


Unrequited

by Nyctolovian



Series: Voltron Hurt/Comfort Bingo 2018 [3]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angry Keith (Voltron), Angst, Emotional Hurt, Emotionally constipated Keith, F/M, Hanahaki Disease, M/M, Multi, One-Sided Attraction, PINING KEITH, Post Season 7, Tragedy, Unrequited Crush, Unrequited Love, Voltron Bingo 2018, i know i wrote a hanahaki fic for this fandom before (and for klance too) but give me chance pls, pining lance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-24
Updated: 2018-11-04
Packaged: 2019-08-06 19:10:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,153
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16393505
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nyctolovian/pseuds/Nyctolovian
Summary: When Lance contracts a deadly disease, the team begins to unravel.“You said this Hanahaki thing only infects people with an unrequited love?” Shiro said. “If it is Lance, isn’t it…”Keith’s face went numb as the thought sank in for him. In unison with the rest of Voltron, his gaze fell on Allura, who stood stiffly.“Me?” she whispered, not daring to speak too loud, afraid to shatter the unsettling quiet.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Bingo Card: [Hurt/Comfort](https://nyctolovian.tumblr.com/post/179345985365/welcome-to-another-episode-of-nyctos-amazing)  
> Prompt: Hanahaki Disease
> 
> Clearly I have a favourite fanfic trope and this is it. Hanahaki. Kind of a guilty pleasure because I love how it hurts despite how weird the concept is hahaha! And as much as a i love this in fanfic, i really dont want it to happen for real in canon haha! (thats the best part of fanon. it isnt canon)
> 
> I assure you, it is different this time. It's not a shorter repeat of the other hanahaki fic. (Which is [this](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12914577/chapters/29506944) hurhur and it’s a lot happier than the current fic btw. that's a clue for how this fic will turn out lol) So get wrecked, people.

“Wait! Lance, are you sure you’re okay?” Keith asked, holding up his hand to stop the sparring session.

“I’m… completely fine...” the red paladin managed. He coughed lightly into the back of his hand.

“You sound terrible,” Keith said with a frown. “I think you should rest. You looked really pale last round.”

“Is that a challenge, Kogane?” Lance said, a playful grin on his face, as he leaned forward. “I’m always up for another round if you can handle it,” he purred, wiggling his eyebrows, as he panted.

Keith pressed his hand to his face and groaned to cover his blush and the laughter threatening to spill out of his chest.

Exhaustion had no right looking this sexy.  But Lance McClain was never good for Keith’s heart in the first place. Suppressing the upward tug of his lips, Keith put down his hand. “I’m serious though. You look tired these few days.”

A small frown creased Lance’s forehead. “I guess I wasn’t feeling too well a while after we were discharged from the hospital.”

“That’s about three days,” Keith said.

“Yeah. I’ll just need some rest and I’ll be fine.” He straightened up, his breathing more normal now. “I think it’s just a bit of a cough coming up.”

“You should sleep more,” Keith replied. “Wouldn’t be good if you got sick. Even though we’ve defeated Sendak, we shouldn’t ruin our health.”

“Yeah, I know. I’ll take care.” Lance walked over to him, and pat his shoulder. “Then, I’ll just watch you do your stuff with the training bots for now, samurai.”

With a huff of amusement, Keith grabbed the black bayard and walked to the centre of the training field. The bayard activated and transformed into his large sword. Habitually, he gave it a few small testing swings before he turned to Lance to signal that he was ready.

His heart dropped.

“Lance?!”

Keith dropped his bayard and broke into a run towards the other boy, who was kneeling on the ground, clutching his chest plate and tugging it. Spit dribbled from his chin as he coughed. Panic rose in Keith’s throat as he kept calling Lance’s name in apprehension. He fumbled with Lance’s armour, sliding it off his chest. Still, Lance struggled and his face grew even redder.

“C-can’t breathe…” Lance wheezed out. Then, he dissolved into a hacking mess. He lurched forward and Keith caught him in his arms. His lips were turning blue now.

“Oh god,” Keith muttered. “Um…” He learnt the Heimlich maneuver but Lance was in no shape to stand up by himself.

What to do?

An idea flashed into Keith’s mind and he hit Lance’s back hard, blow after blow, until Lance suddenly let out a loud wet cough. He sucked in a large loud gulp of air and relaxed slightly.

Knowing Lance will be able to breathe for the next few seconds at least, Keith slammed the emergency button that was at every training ground in the Garrison compound.

The light above it began to flash and Keith rushed back to Lance’s side. Lance was panting again, but at least, he was breathing again. Lance curled up on his side, his face scrunched up in pain.

Iverson was the first to arrive with a first aid kit. He dashed over to the boys and Keith said, “Lance suddenly started coughing and couldn’t breathe. He said he’s been feeling it for several days.”

“Do you have asthma?” Iverson asked.

Lance shook his head weakly.

A team of paramedics arrived at the scene. Iverson frowned. “We need to bring him to the emergency room immediately,” he told the team.

Swiftly, they placed Lance on a stretcher and took him off the training ground. Keith was still shaking from his panic. However, as he got up, he noticed purple petals on the ground.

It was gravel all round for at least sixty feet.

 

* * *

 

“Hanahaki?” Pidge repeated.

“How did he even get it?” Hunk asked incredulously, his eyes unseeing while watching Lance who peacefully lay on the hospital bed.

“I don’t know,” Coran said. “It must be from space since your doctors could not identify the disease at all. We need to cure it as soon as possible. It is highly infectious and deadly.”

“You said this Hanahaki thing only infects people with an unrequited love?” Shiro said. “If it is Lance, isn’t it…”

Keith’s face went numb as the thought sank in for him. In unison with the rest of Voltron, his gaze fell on Allura, who stood stiffly.

“Me?” she whispered, not daring to speak too loud, afraid to shatter the unsettling quiet.

“Allura,” Hunk said. “Everyone knows… who Lance likes.”

“What is the way to cure this, Coran?” Shiro asked. “Some… some medicine or something?” Keith recognised that look he had. It was that distinctly Shiro look that he gets while he was spilling with worry, but had to reign his emotions in for the rest of the team.

Coran lifted the report and said, “He must either have his love requited, or he must get rid of his romantic feelings. If neither of those happen, there’s a surgical method of completely removing his romantic feelings.” He paused, looking at Lance, who lay beneath the clean white sheets. “All of it. Completely.”

“You mean,” Hunk asked, his voice taut, “he can’t fall in love ever again?”

“But that’d be…” Pidge bit her lip. “That’d be terrible for Lance, wouldn’t it?”

“There is one loophole in this disease,” Coran supplied. “It’s that the infected doesn’t need their love to actually be requited. They just has to believe that it is.”

Keith was grateful that he had been sitting on a chair. His legs were tingling and numb and strengthless.

“You’re suggesting that I lie to Lance?!” Allura exclaimed.

“It is only a possible option, princess,” Coran muttered. “It won’t be permanent. It is only until Lance makes a full recovery from the virus, which would take about a phoeb.”

A month? He tried his best to ignore the burning in his chest.

Allura crossed her arms and frowned. At last, she squeezed her eyes shut and said, “No, I can’t. It is simply not right.”

“Not right?” Keith breathily repeated. Everyone’s eyes were drawn to him as it dawned on him that this was the first time he realised how long he had held his breath. He was panting now, his chest tightening. “What do you mean?”

“Lance would not want that. And it’d hurt him tremendously when the truth is out,” Allura explained. “And it is not right to fake one’s feelings and deceive someone else into thinking they… had a chance together.” She gripped her arm. “It isn’t right.”

“What?!” Keith shouted. “It isn’t right? It isn’t right?!” He was on his feet before he could control himself. “What’s right about letting Lance die?”

Shiro placed a hand on his shoulder. “Keith, this is not something that we can force Allura into doing. In all honesty, there really isn’t a right or wrong in this situation. None of these options are ideal.”

“Lance could go for the surgery,” Pidge mumbled. “How risky is it?”

Coran’s face fell. “The chances are not very optimistic, frankly.”

Hunk frowned and glared at the ground. “And he’ll never fall in love again. Allura, you know that…” His gaze was so severe it could burrow holes in her.

Allura shrunk into herself, pale.

Anger flowed through Keith’s veins as he glowered at her. Heat flared in his chest when she hesitantly shook her head again. She opened her mouth to explain herself again but his voice cut through hers like a sword. “Get off your high horse, princess! ” His legs carried him towards her. “You are putting the life of Lance on the line just because of your stupid – I don’t know – pride? You’re just going to let Lance die?”

“Lance will not die,” Shiro said, stepping forth and placing his hands on Keith’s wrist to gently pull him away from Allura. “We will make sure he can–”

Keith smacked him away. “And how will you know that? Oh! Maybe Allura can do her oh-so amazing revival magic trick again! Can you?” he yelled, voice dripping with sarcasm. He didn’t have to wait for her to reply him; he already knew the answer. He grabbed her shoulders and she stared back with wide eyes. “You can save him, Allura! Do you know–”

Shiro tugged him away as Keith choked on his own words. Coran pried Keith’s fingers off a shaken Allura while Pidge stood between the two paladins to separate them. Hunk, however, stood at the side of the room, as far from everyone as possible, hands gripping his elbows.

“Keith,” Allura said, a deeply pained expression etched on her features, “I really… I just…it’s just so difficult… after Lotor… I felt so deceived and that pain… at that moment, I felt as though my heart had been chewed up and spat into the airlock and thrown into a black hole. I’m still recovering. I don’t know if I can ever recover… And I don’t want to put Lance through the same pain that I’ve fel–”

“I still don’t understand!” Keith shouted as Shiro pushed him off Allura at last. Struggling, he continued to scream. “At least he’d still be alive! Do you even know–” His throat hurt from yelling and he coughed lightly. “Do you even know how much I wish I could save him?”

Everything was spilling now.

“He has loved you for so long, Allura! It’s so damn painful to watch him fawn over you all the time even after all those rejections. And now–” He coughed again. “And now he’s dying because of you!”

Keith dissolved into coughs and rasps. If not for Shiro’s support, he would have collapsed from the intensity of his hacking.

There was alarm on everyone’s faces as blue petals fell from his lips. There was silence apart from Keith’s light coughing.

Suddenly, he erupted again, this time, in peals of bitter laughter. “Now, I have it too. Fucking great.”

“Keith,” Hunk mumbled, approaching him tentatively. “Do you…”

“Fine. Not going to pretend anymore,” he replied, huffing in resignation as he slumped to the ground. If it weren't for Shiro's grip, he would have hit the ground harder. “Yeah. It’s Lance.”

Everyone looked down, a whirlpool of emotions swirling within them ― fear, pain, sympathy, despair, panic, a million indescribable feelings. No one dared to speak for a long while, unable to even lift their heads to look at one another.

Allura was the first to stir from their stupor. With tears in her eyes, her iridescent eyes shifted slowly from Keith to Lance and back to Keith again. “Keith…” She knelt down in front of Keith and gripped both of his hands in hers, gentle but firm. “I’m so sorry. I’m sorry for all of this.”

Still unable to meet her gaze, Keith nodded vacantly.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A conclusion for those who want to know how this will end. It’s not an actual story but it’s a summary of how I’d imagine it to end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was created because I saw several subscribers and was like: “Y-you guys expect more?” Also because I had a comment in my previous chapter asking for some form of closure. 
> 
> Im sorry that I can’t really write this part out because 1) it’s too emotionally draining for me 2) I’m not sure if I’m skilful enough to execute this closure the way I envisioned it. Maybe in the far future, I might decide to write this but until then, I have no such plans. 
> 
> It’s not a proper chapter but I hope it will satisfy some of you. :”)

_After much deliberation, Allura will eventually decide to pretend to return Lance's feelings. In the end, however, after about 2 months, when Coran is able to confirm that there is no more hanahaki virus in Lance's body, Allura tells Lance the truth. Of course, Lance is heartbroken beyond words but he is understanding of Allura's choice and cannot find it in himself to blame anyone but himself for burdening others. Lance becomes even more unsure of himself but at least he is still alive and his romantic feelings are not 100% removed right? Despite this, Lance and Allura's friendship is ruined in the long term because Lance cannot look at Allura without thinking "You really thought you were good enough for her, huh?" and Allura feels endless guilt for deceiving Lance and putting him through the pain of learning the love wasn't real. Neither really ever get over the hurt or forgive themselves._

_As for Keith, he just undergoes operation. The surgery is a success, meaning his ability to develop romantic feelings for anyone is taken away. He was able to live a relatively normal life (I mean as normal as being a paladin of voltron can be) because romance was never a large part of his identity and he never acted upon any of his romantic feelings before. But he is left never feeling completely whole and himself ever again. A feeling he once had and secretly treasured was taken away from him after all. (There's nothing inherently wrong/bad about being aromantic, really. But the circumstance here is rather different from being born aro.) Lance never finds out who caused Keith to develop hanahaki so their relationship remains largely unchanged. Once in a while, Keith would catch himself looking at Lance wistfully, missing the flutter in his chest he'd get in the past._

tldr: no one dies. but at what costs? (a lot of permanent emotional damage to both Lance, Keith, and Allura)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for sticking around!

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you guys felt pain lollll 
> 
> Anyway, [here](https://nyctolovian.tumblr.com/) is my tumblr so come throw asks at me. If not, please satisfy my hungry writer heart by commenting or giving kudos :") also, you can request for prompts from the bingo card to be filled on tumblr too! So do drop by haha!
> 
> (Now i shall get back to stressing over my presentation)


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